Among the most glaring were the 61 second half points they allowed to the Pirates and the fact that big men James Michael McAdoo, Brice Johnson, Joel James and Desmond Hubert didn’t get a single offensive rebound between them.

The Hall of Fame coach became so upset with his inside quintet that at one point in the second half he had 6-foot-5½ sophomore P.J. Hairston playing center and 6-5 freshman J.P. Tokoto at power forward.

If UNC’s play wasn’t enough to make Williams go whacko, to use one of his favorite phrases, his frustration level was only heightened by the fact that one of his old players – former Tar Heel point guard Jeff Lebo – was the man responsible for making things more difficult than expected.

“Right now there’s nothing Ol’ Roy is ecstatic about,” he said.

It was an uncomfortable renunion for Roy Williams and ECU coach Jeff Lebo, a player he once helped recruit to UNC

Some of UNC’s shortcomings Saturday can probably be attributed to a lack of practice during the past week while the players were studying for and taking their final exams. Lebo’s improving Pirates may also have had something to do with it.

ECU (6-2) got a 15-point, 14-rebound effort from forward Maurice Kemp, went to the free throw line 27 times and never stopped battling while outscoring the Tar Heels by 10 in the second half.

But as much credit as the Pirates deserve for their gritty effort against a rival they’ve played only twice previously, a large portion of UNC’s struggles over the final 20 minutes were self-inflicted.

That should be cause for concern, because even after 10 games together – a full third of the regular season – these young Tar Heels are still having trouble mastering fundamental skills such as switching on ball screens, playing defense with their feet rather instead of their hands and getting to the boards for rebounds.

Those little things will eventually turn into a big problem if they’re not corrected soon.

“If we do the things we’re supposed to do the game will come easy to us,” junior swingman Reggie Bullock said. “If we do what Coach wants us to do, I feel like we can be one of those great teams. As a player and a leader of this team, I don’t feel like we have everyone all in yet.”

With the start of the ACC schedule rapidly approaching, they might not want to wait too much longer for that to start happening.

For his part, Williams is already starting to explore ways of adjusting to best utilize his available assets. That includes going with a smaller lineup, which utilizes an increased quickness and aggressiveness to compensate for what it gives up on the boards.

Considering the lack of rebounds among the big guys, the sacrifice on Saturday wasn’t all that great.

“I think we do a great job of getting the ball out and running teams,” senior guard Dexter Strickland said. “So going small is not a bad option as well.”

UNC center Joel James is boxed out by East Carolina's Marshall Guilmette

While Williams agrees with that notion in principal and hinted that we’ll likely see the small lineup frequently from here on out, he’s still not ready to give up on his three young big men and commit to an all-out track meet.

“Everybody’s got to pitch in and do a better job,” he said.

Only then will Ol’ Roy start feeling anything close to ecstatic about his talented, but frustrating young team.

Ah…… Roy, newsflash,,, I think BOTH teams had exams this week, correct? And one team was playing on the road. Jeff Lebo is a heck of a coach. His ECU Pirates were the aggressor scoring the most record points ever allowed by the Tarheels at home in a second half. ECU looked good and actually like a team which could be competitive in the Big East. Tarheels were rattled by the defensive pressure and have some work to do

[…] Roy Williams anything but ecstatic over ‘different’ kind of game Roy Williams had any number of reasons to be unhappy with his Tar Heels after watching them squeak by East Carolina 93-87 at the Smith Center on Saturday. Among the most glaring were the 61 second half points they allowed to the Pirates and the fact that big men James Michael McAdoo, Brice Johnson, Joel James and Desmond Hubert didn’t get a single offensive rebound between them. (Wilmington Star News) […]